Elbridge Gerry

Uncommon card · No. 82459

Elbridge Thomas Gerry (; 17 July [O.S. 6 July] 1744 – November 23, 1814) was an American Founding Father, merchant, politician, and diplomat, who was a member of the Second Continental Congress, and signed the Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation. From 1813 until his death in 1814, he served as the fifth vice president of the United States under President James Madison. The political practice of gerrymandering is named after him. Born into a wealthy merchant family, Gerry vocally opposed British colonial policy in the 1760s and was active in the early stages of organizing the resistance in the American Revolutionary War. In addition to signing the Declaration and the Articles, he was one of three men who attended the Constitutional Convention in 1787, but refused to sign the Constitution because originally it did not include a Bill of Rights. After its ratification, he was elected to the inaugural United States Congress, where he was actively involved in the drafting...

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